Camp Redwood

“Yo, Lupe,” Keegan said as the skinny girl sat down. I smiled as she took the seat next to me. She ignored him, as always, and pushed her tray towards me. I picked up her pizza and scarfed it down in a few bites. We were almost done eating lunch in the courtyard and she decided to join our usually deserted table.

“How do you not eat?” I asked, swallowing the last bit.

She shrugged. “I just… don’t.”

“Ay, I’ll be back,” Keegan said, stepping away from the table suddenly.

Lupe and I sat there awkward for a moment, stumbling on something to talk about. Instead of worrying myself I looked over at Forrest’s table, usually crowded by all his friends (he was a popular guy) and realized that, oddly enough, Kalliope wasn’t there.

I looked back at Lupe and smiled, the happy feeling obviously not being mutual when she frowned at me.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, pouting. I didn’t like seeing her unhappy.

“I think Kalliope and Keegan are…”

“What?”

She sighed. “I saw them, uh… fooling around.”

“Fooling around?”

She looked back down at a book I forgot she had, flipping a page. “I think they had sex.”

“Keegan wouldn’t-”

She stared into my eyes. “He would.” She said, “She’s a whore. She’ll sleep with anyone to make herself feel better. Why would I lie?”

“I have to tell him, now.” I said, panicked. How could Kalliope do that? Forrest loved her, he was so sweet- and she betrayed him. And I don’t think Lupe knew, but I wasn’t one for keeping secrets.

She went on to explain that night when she gave me her gum she saw Keegan through the cabin window. Maybe it was a mistake. Maybe.

It really would explain some things, though. I felt uneasy when I realized neither one of them were here right now. And Forrest didn’t suspect something was going on!

“Maybe you should,” Lupe said. “She’s a dishonest bitch who needs to get her shit straight.”

I didn’t say anything because, honestly, I hated talking bad about people. I hated even being around people who talked bad about people. No matter how many times Kalliope and Forrest have done me wrong, or even how many times they will- I wasn’t one for slander or hearsay.

“Kalliope isn’t that bad…” I tried redeeming myself.

“So cheating on your boyfriend isn’t bad?” She raised an eyebrow.

“No, I know that’s bad, but…”

“Look.” Lupe’s green eyes shot daggers into my soul. She had those kind of eyes. Serious about everything. “Are you my friend or not?” she spat.

“I want to be everyone’s friend.”

She closed her book. “Not everyone will like you though, Aubrey," she said angrily, “You can’t be everyone’s buddy. They just screw you over. People are just going to stomp all over you, and you’re going to let them.”

“They won’t.”

Her eyebrows climbed. “Oh, really?” She said, “Just wait.”



“Hi, Forrest.”

The green-eyed boy smiled, but I’m not stupid enough to think he actually wanted my company. He was just being polite. “Hey, Aubrey.”

Forrest and I sat on the bleachers while Kalliope was playing a tennis match and shot a glare my way. I scooted farther away from Forrest, getting the message. “Do you know where Keegan is?”

“No,” he said, with obvious distate. “Haven’t seen him all day.”

I looked down. “Oh.” The paper bag in my hand crinkled when a gust of wind flew by, nearly knocking it on the ground. “Are you hungry?”

“Kind of.”

I took a Tupperware container out of the bag and held it out to him. He opened it, revealing the pretty vanilla cupcake I made during the cooking class I had twenty minutes earlier. Sebastian was the supervisor, even though he admitted he couldn’t bake straight on. He helped me with the first batch and ended up burning it.

“They’re not burnt,” he winked. “They’re well done.”

If I ever open a bakery, I wouldn’t put him in the kitchen.

“Wow,” Forrest says, staring at the cupcake like it’s a foreign object. “You sure I can have this?”

I was saving it for Keegan but I didn’t tell that to Forrest and just nodded. I told him it was sugar free but I ate one during class and you couldn’t even tell the difference. He smiled and for the first time I actually felt like he meant it.

He took a bite, offering a piece to me. I shook my head.

“If I tell you something, you have to promise not to get mad a t me.”

He looked a bit unsure. “Okay.”

I looked to the side, not wanting to see his reaction because if he was mad I might cry and I don’t think I can handle anymore tears.

“Kallie and Keegan like each other, I think.”

“What?” He said, chewing on the cupcake, unaffected.

I took a quick breath and blurted out, “I think they did it with each other!”

He stopped, mid-bite, furrowing his eyebrows.

“Forrest!” He stood up fast when Kalliope called, a piece of cupcake almost falling out of his mouth. He caught it with his hand, plopping it back in his mouth before running to her.



“Keegan?”

I climbed the ladder of his wooden bunk bed, sitting cross-legged like the first day of camp. I pulled hard on a strand of his pretty hair before saying something again.

“Keegan, get up.” He rolled over and his arm flew crazily, missing my face by less than an inch. I grinned, and poked his nose ring mercilessly, suppressing a laugh every time he’d reach up and smack himself in the face. Seriously, wouldn’t it hurt to blow his nose? It would get in the way of everything! I snickered at the thought, attempting to keep quiet, noting Forrest was sleeping across the room. There was, of course, space for noise due to Forrest’s atrocious snores. I hope I didn’t snore like that.

“Keegan!” I whispered harshly, wiggling the piece of metal once more. I swayed the flashlight I found under the sink of my cabin’s bathroom back and forth in front of his face just to see if the brightness would disturb him at all.

One of his brown eyes peeled open slowly, and he smacked it out of my hand. It fell on the floor with a loud thunk. He sat up, both of his eyes now opened to slits. The blanket that was pulled up to his chin fell down to his waist and he leaned against the white wall behind him.

“Hi,” I said awkwardly. I had a feeling he didn’t think it was real. Maybe I was a dream or- I don’t know. Just not here. Maybe he thought he was still sleeping. I mean, I would too if I found myself in my own cabin. I took a breath, holding it in and preparing myself for a hostile remark.

“What are you doing here, Sunny?” he asked coolly. He was a bit loud. “How did you get in?”

I lifted a finger to my lips and pointed across the room to remind him of the person snoring less than twenty feet away. He didn’t care- what did I expect- and I answered, “I unlocked the door, silly.” I pulled the bobby pin I got in with out of my hair. “I have this. You’d be surprised at how easy it is to open locks at this place! It’s almost like they actually want us to visit each other!”

I thought of Keegan using that advice to break into another girl’s cabin, and then decided he’d be too lazy to do that in the first place.

“Why’re you here?” he asked. I smiled wide, extremely glad that he wasn’t mad.

“I had a nightmare.”

He rolled his eyes. “Holy-” He stopped himself, most likely thinking of a kinder way to tell me to go away. “How old are you? Five?”

“I…”

“What d’you want?”

I looked down at my hands. I didn’t want to tell him, because Keegan could be judgmental at times. And I wasn’t sure if I should tell him the truth. “I can’t sleep by myself when I have nightmares.”

“Well then go back to your cabin and sleep with Kalliope.”

I nearly cried. “She won’t let me!”

He jumped when he saw a tear roll down my cheek. I hated crying, really I did, but it was just so hard. His eyes softened and he reached out a hand, even though he didn’t know what to do with it. “Stop crying.” He lowered his hand awkwardly, sliding to his left to make room. He lifted up the covers and I crawled in. “Just… stay on that side.”

The blankets were warm and I used my arm as a pillow. I was faced towards Forrest’s bed, and Keegan was behind me at least a foot away. I laid there in silence for what felt like forever until I decided to break the silence.

“We can tell each other things, right?” I asked him, turning over. His eyes were closed, and I wasn’t sure if he was awake or asleep.

He was silent and I continued.

“I didn’t mean to freak out during the session the other day. I was just scared, and… I don’t know. I read this thing online about how sugar makes you have mental break downs and… um, maybe that’s happening to me.

“I think that it was wrong of her to tell you all that… well, that my parents died. I was small, and even though I was young it still stays in my mind and it bothers me so much because I have flash backs. Every. Single. Day. But that’s okay. Since you know my secret now, maybe someday you can tell me about your family and if you like them or not because I really, really want to know. And I’m not mad that you had sex with Kallie because you, well, you’re nice and if I did something bad you’d still be my friend too.

“So I just wanted to say thank you for being there for me and not being mad at me every time I think you’re going to be like everyone else. Lupe is really angry and I don’t know what to do because I like her and Kallie and everyone. I try, Keegan. I really try. But no one else is making an effort to be nice except for you. I know you don’t like Forrest, but you’re not picking fights and that’s why I like you. You’re really nice to me. And if you can put up with me then I like you. You make me want to have a brother.”

Keegan started to snore.

“One more thing,” I said, poking his nose ring. “I think Lupe likes you. So if you’re awake right now, don’t tell her I did this.”

I leaned closer, planting a small kiss on his chin. He smelt like smoke and chocolate. But I'm thinking the chocolate is just me.

He was a good friend.



“Where’d you go last night?” Kallie asked as I walked through the door the morning after. She sat on the sofa, watching the news, even though I knew she could care less about the current events. She was awake uncharacteristically early, I had gotten up myself so Forrest wouldn’t see me.

“I went to the bathroom outside the cabin so I wouldn’t wake you,” I lied.

She crossed her arms, and responded, “All night?”

I walked into the bathroom. “Uh… yeah. I… er, fell asleep on the toilet.”

“You lied to me.” Kallie said, following me. I turned on the faucet, getting a dollop of soap to wash my hands. “Tell me the truth.”

“When did you become my mom?” I laughed. Kallie didn’t even like me that much. Our personalities clashed- I was bright and bubbly and she was… Kallie.

“When you and Sebastian started seeing each other.” She said. “You were with him, weren’t you?”

I rolled my eyes. Please, me and Sebastian? No.

“Er… no.”

“Good,” she said. “He’s ancient anyway.”

“He’s only twenty-one.”

“Yeah, but still.”

"You know what,” I said, heading to my drawer. I only needed one to fit all my clothes and just gave Kallie the rest. I was a light packer. “I’m going to change and head down to breakfast. I want to get the Jello before Keegan eats all of it, like always.”

She frowned when I mentioned his name.

“What?” I asked, pulling my night dress over my head.

“He’s a jerk.” She said, “Why do you hang out with him?”

I shrugged. “He’s actually really nice.”

“He’s using you, for… you know.”

“What do I know, exactly?”

“All he wants is sex, Aubrey.”

“He’s not like that," I countered. If he wanted that, he would’ve made a move by now. “I know that for a fact.”

She rolled her eyes dramatically. “Like you know more about him than I do.” Sarcasm dripped off her words. “He’s a pot-smoking slacker that doesn’t care about anything other than getting ass.”

“I guess he wasn’t one when you were fooling around.”

Actually Kalliope, I know way more then you think I do. I stopped myself, not wanting to add anything else to the conversation that I’ll regret later. I hated being mean. But Keegan was one of my only true friends in this hole, and I had to stand by him, no matter what.

“We weren’t fooling around.”

It my turn to scoff. “Yeah, whatever.”

“Who even told you that?” She asked.

“None of your business.”

I don’t think Kalliope even had a clue. “Maybe I’m not the one lying, here.”

“I didn’t-”

“I said whatever!” I said, frantically. I felt so horrible for mentioning it. “Just… never mind, please let it go.”

I finished dressing, and stopped to say something to her before walking towards the courtyard. Kalliope sat back down on the sofa. I mustered up my courage and avowed every thought I had on the topic at hand. “If you’d stop for two seconds to pay attention to someone other than yourself for a change you’d realize that our addictions don’t define us. You should know that by now. Open your eyes and stop judging books by their covers. So I’d like it if you’d stop talking about everyone like you’re high and mighty because there’s more to people than what they show. Especially when it comes to Keegan.”

I turned, slamming the door behind me and storming off to breakfast.